Pathos in Shooting an Elephant
"Shooting an Elephant" written in 1936 by the British writer George Orwell tells an experience of an author who shoots an elephant during the time of being a colonial police in the British colony of Burma in 1926. Orwell once said: "There is no book that does not contains political tendencies"(Orwell). His "Shooting an Elephant" is no exception. As an anti-imperialist, he uses this short story to express his opposition of colonial rule and resentment of the British Empire. "Pathos is the motivation factor"(Demırdöğen). In the story, Orwell focuses on using pathos to motivate the readers to recognize the evil nature of colonialism, and accept his anti-imperialist ideology. This paper attempts to analysis the use of pathos in "Shooting an Elephant" from the perspective of rhetoric devices, the inner contraction of "I", and the description of Burmese people. Thus explaining to the relationship between the use of rhetoric and emotional interpretation.
Pathos and its rhetorical function
In Classical rhetorical theory, Rhetoric is the study of speech skills, and the purpose of speech is to persuade. There are three appeals for …show more content…
Orwell uses rhetorical devices in more than 30 places in this short story, such as: alliteration, semi homophones, similes, metaphors, euphemisms, hyperbole, repetition, parallelism, satire, symbolism and so on. These rhetorical devices played different roles in mobilizing the reader emotionally, so that author can more effectively shows his inner contradiction when he shoots the elephant, explores the miserable lives of the colonial peoples, and convinces the reader to believe the evils of colonialism. Consider the following two
"Shooting an Elephant" written in 1936 by the British writer George Orwell tells an experience of an author who shoots an elephant during the time of being a colonial police in the British colony of Burma in 1926. Orwell once said: "There is no book that does not contains political tendencies"(Orwell). His "Shooting an Elephant" is no exception. As an anti-imperialist, he uses this short story to express his opposition of colonial rule and resentment of the British Empire. "Pathos is the motivation factor"(Demırdöğen). In the story, Orwell focuses on using pathos to motivate the readers to recognize the evil nature of colonialism, and accept his anti-imperialist ideology. This paper attempts to analysis the use of pathos in "Shooting an Elephant" from the perspective of rhetoric devices, the inner contraction of "I", and the description of Burmese people. Thus explaining to the relationship between the use of rhetoric and emotional interpretation.
Pathos and its rhetorical function
In Classical rhetorical theory, Rhetoric is the study of speech skills, and the purpose of speech is to persuade. There are three appeals for …show more content…
Orwell uses rhetorical devices in more than 30 places in this short story, such as: alliteration, semi homophones, similes, metaphors, euphemisms, hyperbole, repetition, parallelism, satire, symbolism and so on. These rhetorical devices played different roles in mobilizing the reader emotionally, so that author can more effectively shows his inner contradiction when he shoots the elephant, explores the miserable lives of the colonial peoples, and convinces the reader to believe the evils of colonialism. Consider the following two